The Civil Aviation Administration of China awarded a contract to Virginia-based Rannoch Corporation for its ERA air tracking system for the installation of 32 sensor devices to follow planes in the air, on the ground, as well as track vehicles on airfields.

The technology is designed to relieve congestion in the skies above Asia's second busiest airport, Beijing International, which will get more congested once it's a new runway comes on stream.

Experts say the awarding of this contract could signal the start of a trend to move away from outdated systems relying on radar to track the position of aircraft with more accurate global positioning satellite technology that will enable airports to reduce the distance between planes as they descend.

Beijing is demanding the ERA system be tested and ready for installation by the end of the year. And this is only the beginning, as it's predicted that all aircraft in operation will require ADS-B gear by 2020.

UPS' Louisville, Kentucky hub has already adopted an ADS-B supported network for surface operations, resulting in shorter taxi times, and less noise and emissions from planes as there is less queuing in the sky for a slot on the ground to land. The report said that UPS expects to save 900,000 gallons of fuel a year by equipping 117 of its planes with ADS-B technology.